The Foundation for Successful Tantra Practice

First, we need a very stable refuge or safe direction base with a clear understanding of the four noble truths. When we talk about Buddha, Dharma and Sangha as indicating the direction we want to go in, the main thing is the Dharma Jewel. What is the Dharma Jewel? It refers to the third and fourth noble truths: a true stopping and the true pathway mind to the understanding of voidness that will bring about the true stoppings. These occur in full on the mental continuum of a Buddha, as the Buddha jewel, and they occur in part on the mental continuum of aryas, the Sangha Jewel. 

This is the direction we want to go in; we want to attain that. We want to attain the true stoppings through the understanding of voidness, the true pathway minds, in stages with liberation, then as an arhat, and then as a Buddha. 

We can meditate on the Three Jewels, Mahayana style, in terms of the four close placements of mindfulness. 

Close Placement on the Body as True Suffering

We focus on the body in terms of true suffering. True suffering includes our samsaric bodies, birth, sickness, old age, death and all the limitations that we have. This is true suffering. We get this type of body over and over again. It uncontrollably occurs. We focus on the body as being true suffering. All the bodies that we attain throughout samsara are suffering. This includes the three types of suffering: physical pain and unhappiness, the suffering of change as in our ordinary happiness and uncontrollably recurring rebirth, which is the basis for the first two.

With tantra, we practice to attain a purer body, not one that is true suffering. This is why we focus on the form of a Buddha-figure, the yidam, to eventually become a body of a Buddha. This is the Mahayana practice of the close placement of mindfulness on the body, which tantra helps us to transform. 

Close Placement on Feelings as the True Cause of Suffering 

Close placement of mindfulness on feelings refers to our feelings of happiness or unhappiness. We focus on these feelings in terms of the second noble truth, the true cause of suffering. To know the true cause of suffering we need to understand the twelve links of dependent arising. As a result of our unawareness and ignorance we build up the various karmic potentials and so on. These karmic potentials ripen into the seventh link, the feelings of happiness and unhappiness.

Following that, we have the eighth link, usually translated as “clinging,” which is actually translated from the word for “thirst” in Sanskrit. We “thirst” in terms of our feelings. We are thirsting for the unhappiness to end and thirsting for happiness not to end. This link and the ninth and tenth links activate further karmic potentials for further rebirth in another body. 

The ninth link is usually translated as “grasping.” The actual word is an “obtainer,” meaning what will be obtained in the next rebirth. There is a large list of these, but the main one is grasping in terms of a “me.” First there is focus on the feeling, but now the focus is on “me.” This is the obtainer: “I don’t want this unhappiness,” or “I don’t want to be parted from this happiness.” The focus is different. 

The tenth link is further existence. This refers to the fact that the karmic potential that gives rise to the next karmic rebirth is now activated. The thirsting and the obtainer attitude activate the karmic potential for the next body, the next rebirth. 

Therefore, when we focus on our feelings as the true cause of suffering, we understand that because they are mixed with confusion, our unawareness, we have these three links of dependent arising which bring about the suffering of another rebirth. We focus on the ordinary feelings mixed with confusion and we understand that this is the true cause of suffering. All of the unawareness manifest in terms of this grasping or thirsting and in terms of this obtainer attitude, this sense of “me.” It’s a little bit indirect.

What we want to do with tantra is to not have these ordinary feelings, because these ordinary feelings are mixed with confusion and will only bring about more suffering. Ordinary feelings are the basis for having more ordinary bodies, which are in turn the basis for having more ordinary feelings and these are true suffering and the cause of true suffering. This is why we have all the offerings. We imagine that we are enjoying them with pure bliss and not mixed with confusion. We want to have pure blissful feelings which, of course, will come from pure positive potential. This is similar to how ordinary happiness comes from karmic positive potential.

Close Placement on the Mind as the True Stopping of Suffering

The placement of close mindfulness on the mind is understood in terms of the third noble truth, the true stopping. The nature of the mind is pure and not contaminated by the two obscurations, our unawareness or ignorance and its constant habits.

Close Placement on All Phenomena as the True Path

Close placement of mindfulness on all phenomena is understood in terms of the mental factors, specifically discriminating awareness or wisdom as the fourth noble truth. This is the true pathway that will bring about the true stoppings of the third noble truth.  

With tantra we imagine that we are already on this level and that we have the mind of a Buddha and the understanding of voidness. These are the third and fourth noble truths. 

Refuge, Four Noble Truths and Four Close Placement of Mindfulness

In this way, our safe direction or refuge aligns to the third and fourth noble truths that we can attain. It is not-yet-happening but we can attain them on the basis of the purity of the mind and these two networks. The true stoppings can be understood in terms of the Essential Nature Body, Svabhavakaya, the voidness of the mind of a Buddha. The true path can be understood in terms of the omniscient mind of a Buddha, which comes from the network of deep awareness, and the Svabhavakaya is the void nature of the mind. Instead of the first two noble truths, we want to have a pure body and a pure blissful mind. These are coming from the transformation of the network of positive force. This comprises the method side. 

This puts everything together very nicely although it is a bit complex. We always hear in tantra that the method side is the illusory body and the blissful mind that we imagine or derive from the subtle energy system. The wisdom side is the mind that understands voidness. Therefore, we can understand this now in terms of the four noble truths and the four close placements of mindfulness.

To review briefly from the perspective of the four noble truths: 

On the basis level:

• On an ordinary level we get the limited tainted body. 
• We get our ordinary feelings mixed with confusion, the first noble truth.
• We get a mind obscured with emotional and cognitive obscurations. 
• We have confusion and ignorance rather than understanding.

On the pathway level:

• We imagine ourselves as a Buddha-figure as our body side rather than true suffering.
• We imagine that we have some sort of blissful awareness of voidness.
• Although it is not completely pure, we imagine that we have a pure mind with at least conceptual understanding of voidness.

On the resultant level:

• We have the actual body of a Buddha.
• We have the blissful mind of a Buddha.
• We have full true stoppings of both obscurations.
• We have the omniscient mind of the two truths.

This is another way of analyzing what we mentioned before in terms of Buddha-nature. When we work with the body and feelings, true suffering and the causes, and the networks of positive and negative force, this is the method side. Regarding the mind of a Buddha, the wisdom side from the network of deep awareness, we can see the fourth noble truth. With the abiding nature of the mind, the voidness, this is like the third noble truth or the true stoppings. Technically, the deep awareness or discriminating awareness is analogous with the fourth noble truth. 

On the basis level, we have the first two noble truths and on the resultant level we have the form body or the rupakaya. We also have the third and fourth noble truths and on the resultant level, the dharmakaya. In addition, we need refuge, the safe direction of aiming for that, with the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha Jewels. As mentioned, although complex, it all fits together very nicely. On the ordinary level, the Sangha Jewel is the pathway level, while the Buddha Jewel is the resultant level. 

Obviously, this takes quite a while to digest, but it does put everything together. Without the safe direction as the basis for tantra, we will not be able to understand what is going on. In addition we will need to have renunciation, the determination to be from the first and second noble truths, our ordinary body and ordinary feelings. Without that, we can’t possibly practice tantra. We need to be determined to be free of that. This is what renunciation means. 

Also, we need to have bodhichitta. It is impossible to practice tantra without bodhichitta, because we are focusing on our not-yet-happening enlightenment, the third and fourth noble truths to achieve a pure body and pure feelings, or pure enjoyment as it’s called. We need to understand that what we are focusing on in tantra represents our not-yet-happening enlightenment; otherwise, we might as well just imagine that we are Mickey Mouse. All of this is moved by love and compassion. We want to be of benefit to everybody and not just for our own liberation.

Moreover, we have to have the understanding of voidness. We need to understand that the mind isn’t self-established as tainted or mixed with confusion. It is on the basis of dependent arising and cause and effect, that the mind can be purified of the obscurations.

Very firm refuge, renunciation, bodhichitta and understanding of voidness are absolutely essential as the foundation for tantra practice. Of course, we need concentration, the six paramitas, the understanding of impermanence and all the other aspects of Buddhist sutra teachings. Then, with tantra, we can put it all together.

Let’s pause for a short while and in a sense let that sink in. This is a lot of information to process. We can think in terms of the four noble truths represented by body, feelings, mind and discriminating awareness of the nature of phenomena. This is how the four close placements of mindfulness is practiced in Mahayana. Then we can add the three levels. On the basis level, we have all the troubles of samsara; however, on a pathway level we can work with tantra practice, and then we transform to the resultant level of a rupakaya and dharmakaya. Refuge is the safe direction heading toward the resultant level. If we make a pictograph of all of this in our minds, it helps us to focus on all of this and understand it. Begin with a general idea of it and then with more contemplation, we can fill in the details.

We need to know how to meditate and not just sort of sit there. There are two types of meditation: discerning, usually called analytical meditation, and stabilizing meditation. Discerning meditation is when we go over in our minds what we have been learning, and with stabilizing meditation we stay focused on it. When the focus becomes spaced out and it has no meaning, we return to trying to discern it once again. We want to bring it fresh in our minds. We can do this process of discerning and stabilizing meditation shamatha style, in which we try to just get the general understanding and stabilize it. The emphasis is on the stabilization. On the basis of that, we can use vipashyana style, which is putting more emphasis on discerning all the details with the stability. 

We need to end with the dedication. We think whatever understanding, whatever positive force has come from this discussion, may it go deeper and deeper and act a cause for everyone to attain the enlightenment of a Buddha for the benefit of us all. This helps the network of positive force and the deep awareness, the understanding, to contribute toward making the bodies and the mind of a Buddha. This is very important; otherwise, it just improves samsara.